Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the level of electricity generating margins in the EU on future Government policy in relation to interconnectors.

When modelling interconnection’s contribution to security of supply through the Capacity Market we de-rate them to ensure we have enough reliable capacity to meet peak demand. This process happens on an annual basis. National Grid models a range of different sensitivities to do this, taking into account conditions in those countries that we are interconnected to. This year the de-rating factors of several interconnectors were lower than in previous years, in part reflecting tightening margins in the countries that they connect to.